News

How I Made It: Jane Packer, founder of Jane Packer flowers

Blossoming of a royal florist

WHEN Jane Packer got a call one Monday morning asking if she could meet someone to talk about wedding flowers, she almost said no because she had been working all weekend and was exhausted. However, when the caller insisted, she relented — and went round to discover that the bride-to-be was none other than the Duchess of York.

It was the first time a tiny shop had been chosen for a royal wedding and suddenly Packer was front-page news. She says: “I was coming back from the market one morning when they announced on the radio that a 26-year-old florist had been chosen. By the time I got back to the shop there were six journalists outside.”

Packer, now 42, became interested in flowers when she got a Saturday job in a florist’s in Grays, Essex, while still at school. She says: “It started off as a way to earn pocket